


The (Printer) Intern

by verynotconcise



Category: EXO (Band)
Genre: Enemies to Friends, Enemies to Friends to Lovers, Fluff, Interns & Internships, Kim Jongdae | Chen is a Little Shit, M/M, Misunderstandings, Poor Life Choices, is it considered enemies if you are strangers, leave baekhyun alone!!
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-17
Updated: 2019-06-17
Packaged: 2020-05-13 13:58:51
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,250
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19252600
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/verynotconcise/pseuds/verynotconcise
Summary: “Jongdae,” Baekhyun said seriously, “that guy can’t be the Printer Intern.”“Why not?”“Because he’s fucking hot!”alternatively: across-the-office glares make a miserable Kim Jongdae.





	The (Printer) Intern

**Author's Note:**

> 30% inspired by real life, 20% inspired by Aa’s shit-talking & 50% fictional. thank you Aa for giving me the inspiration to turn this into a short story
> 
> the printer intern is real, guys, and he is a pain in the ass -_-
> 
> 24h baby is unbetaed so all mistakes are mine

“Jongdae,”

“What?”

“He’s there, again.”

Jongdae looked up from his computer screen, looking briefly at his two o’clock where a tall man waited patiently for the noisy printer to churn out page after page of whatever he was printing. The man— more of an overgrown boy, actually— had his back turned towards them and, thank god, did not catch the glare that his immature friend was shooting. Jongdae blinked once, twice, before fixing his friend with the most unimpressed and bored look that he could be bothered to.

“Baekhyun,” Jongdae inhaled deeply, “he’s _always_ there. That’s the whole point of _you_ calling him the Printer Intern.”

“ _We_ call him the Printer Intern,” Baekhyun corrected with a frown.

“No, _you_ call him the Printer Intern, with a capital P and I. _I_ call him by his name, like a normal human being. The name that you so happen to know as well.” Jongdae returned the look of disapproval and managed to make it more scathing, because, really, this was getting out of hand. Baekhyun deepened his frown, folding his arms across his chest as he sent another scalding glare towards the Printer Intern’s unknowing back.

“It’s not my fault. He started it,”

“Baek—”

“Going around ignoring me like that, and then spying on my laptop and being a fucking tattletale like a little shit.”

Which was true. Baekhyun had no beef with the tall man-child standing at the printer nearly 80% of the time that he looked up from his tiny laptop screen— something that belongs to the Nokia era, by the way. And maybe out of that 80% of the time, the Printer Intern would even look up from where pieces of paper were being pushed out like a good month of constipation coming to an end, and make eyecontact with Baekhyun from across the office. And maybe a few times, Baekhyun had even smiled at the Printer Intern when they made eyecontact, most of which were met with a flustered (?) reaction of the Printer Intern looking back down again, effectively breaking off eyecontact.

All in all, Baekhyun felt that he had been friendly and nice and approachable to the Printer Intern, and he had thought that even if they had never really spoken to each other or met properly, they were cool. So nothing had pre-empted him for the absolute cold shoulder he received from the Printer Intern when all the interns in the department finally gathered for a miserable interns lunch one day. Baekhyun was able to make conversation with most of the other interns sitting around the Printer Intern, was able to establish himself as a friend to everyone except for the Printer Intern, who resolutely refused to even glance his way throughout lunch.

Baekhyun bad been irritated, but he chalked it up to the guy being shy and more reclusive, never mind that he had been laughing at joking with everyone else but Baekhyun that afternoon. Baekhyun wasn’t petty, he wasn’t going to begrudge someone over something like that.

But then it became personal when Jongdae strolled into the toilet a week later, standing a urinal away and asked casually, “How’s work?”

“Jongdae, you literally sit next to me,” Baekhyun deadpanned, “you know how it is.”

“Oh, well, yeah, I guess I do.” Jongdae said with poorly concealed surprise, as if he was finding out for the first time that Baekhyun sat next to him. Baekhyun rolled his eyes, finishing his business. He was drying his hands when Jongdae came next to him, washing his hands.

“You know, Chanyeol told me that you were watching youtube videos today.”

“What?” Baekhyun said once, taken aback, and when the statement finally sank in, “ _What?_ Was he spying on me?”

Jongdae shrugged, “I mean, our seat is kind of near the pantry. I wouldn’t be surprised if he looked at your screen while going to the pantry or something.”

“Seriously, fuck him, jesus.” Baekhyun seethed, “First he ignores me, then he spies on my laptop and tries to be a tattletale piece of shit. And anyway, I was watching youtube videos on how to use Excel, but of course he would leave it out to make me look bad like a sneaky bastard.”

“You know,” Jongdae sighed, bringing Baekhyun out of his own thoughts, “I’ll never understand the both of you and this weird dancing thing you’re doing here.”

“Dancing thing?”

“I mean— for someone who dislikes him, you sure pay a lot of attention to him.”

“Because he’s _always there_ , with that freakish height and weird bug-like eyes of his, staring back at me at the goddamn printer.”

“Bug-like?” Jongdae raised a curious brow.

“Yeah, big black eyes, kind of soulless?”

“Right, cause I spend so much time locking eyes with Chanyeol to know that they are big, or soulless, or whatever.” Jongdae rolled his eyes, already turning away from Baekhyun, “Seriously, whatever this weird crush you have on him is, you need to get it together man.”

“It’s not a crush,” Baekhyun interjected quickly, “he’s just such a fucking pain in the ass, and I didn’t even do anything to offend him.”

Speaking of the devil, the Printer Intern looked back sharply, and in a habitual way, let his eyes roam over his shoulder until he saw Baekhyun, gripping onto the edge of the table with his lips pressed together in a tight line. There was a moment were they both stared at each other from across the office, with the sheets of paper being stacked neatly on top of each other and the ugly grinding sound in the background. The Printer Intern blinked innocently at Baekhyun, with no discernable expression on his face, before Baekhyun bowed his head and pretended to be reading the macro in front of him, letters and numbers as jumbled as his thoughts were.

  
  


Baekhyun would be lying if he said that that was all the Printer Intern did that annoyed him, though. Whenever the clock on his laptop turned 6:30PM, Baekhyun would only just be starting to pack his stuff but the Printer Intern would already be walking out of the door, carrying onto his bulky hand-held bag in one hand, never once sparing a glance at Baekhyun’s direction.

Initially, Baekhyun thought that the reason for his irritation was due to the fact that someone could leave so punctually. It wasn’t once, nor twice, but everyday that the Printer Intern would be on his way out of the door the exact moment that the clock had changed its numbers.

It wasn’t until much later that Baekhyun had realised that this misplaced sense of displeasure had its roots elsewhere.

Firstly, possibly, was the fact that the other end of the office had another exit— one that was considerably closer to the Printer Intern. Yet, without fail, the Printer Intern would walk through the exit nearest to Baekhyun and not say goodbye. Much like a rich kid taunting some less fortunate with the riches he couldn’t have, the Printer Intern seemed determined to flaunt his ability to avoid all sorts of work just before work officially ends. Who does that? A decent human being should at least say goodbye, or even a small smile would suffice.

Which leads Baekhyun to the second point, which was probably the real reason he didn’t want to admit to: deep in the recesses of his heart, he secretly wished to go home with the Printer Intern. Not that he wanted to go to the Printer Intern’s house, or invite the Printer Intern over to his, but just the thought of being able to walk to the train station or the bus stop made Baekhyun want to smile, and then have to suppress the stupid smile at the thought of walking off with the Printer Intern. It was stupid, really— why would Baekhyun even want to walk with an unfriendly and rude guy, anyway? He was fine with Jongdae, he was fine with the other interns as well. It wasn’t rational for him to want to get to know this cold guy. Pssh.

Except, he kind of did. He tried not to let his thoughts linger on that too much, but he could help the sense of urgency when he started to pack his belongings just a little bit before 6:30PM, inwardly hoping to catch the Printer Intern at the lift. Conveniently and coincidentally, of course.

  


But not everything plays out like the little script he wrote in his head.

As Baekhyun sat next to his supervisor, who was currently engaged in an intense round of bitching (“letting off steam” as the permanent staff called it) with her friend across the mini divider separating their desks, he watched the Printer Intern striding out of the office with another temporary staff. He watched them walk by without turning their heads to greet Baekhyun as they left, well knowing that Baekhyun was still there.

Baekhyun gritted his teeth, hearing the door click shut with a gentle tap.  
  


It happened one day. Just like any other day, Baekhyun was sitting at his own desk, sniggering at some stupid meme that Jongdae had sent him by the office skype despite sitting in the next seat.

And then, he’d felt it. Someone was staring at him.

Warily, Baekhyun glanced up and around the office until his eyes landed on the familiar figure across the office, standing next to the printer with an easy posture. Well, it should have been a familiar face, because clearly that stance screamed “I AM THE PRINTER INTERN” to anyone who cared enough to look, but at the same time it couldn’t be the Printer Intern because—

Because the guy had straight hair which looked smooth and shiny, and soft. His hair seemed to fly with every minute movement the man made, and the way that his fringe was combed backwards, slightly to the side, only made him look more stylish. An effortless look that most guys probably spent a lot of effort trying to achieve. Where the real Printer Intern had curly bangs that covered his eyes, the man’s eyes was not obstructed by anything, and those eyes were the most alluring set of eyes that Baekhyun had ever seen—

Because the guy at the printer was _hot_ , and the Printer Intern was _not_.

“Holy shit,” Baekhyun muttered a little more loudly than he intended to, causing Jongdae’s eyes to snap up.

“What?” Jongdae asked worriedly.

“Is that the Printer Intern?” There was a squeak at the end of his voice that he was not proud of.

Jongdae’s brows started climbing up his forehead as he followed Baekhyun’s gaze to the tall, handsome man standing with his hands in his pockets like a fucking model straight out of a photoshoot. There was a moment of silence as Jongdae tried to connect the dots, furrowing his brows in confusion.

“Um, obviously it’s Chanyeol, who else could it be.” Jongdae chuckled uneasily, “Are you okay?”

“Jongdae,” Baekhyun said seriously, “that guy can’t be the Printer Intern.”

“Why not?”

“Because he’s fucking hot!” Baekhyun half-hissed quietly, half-wailed. His hands flew to his hair, tugging on the short strands in distress, “How the hell did the Printer Intern get so hot overnight?!”

“What the hell are you talking about?!” Jongdae cried, “Are you even listening to yourself right now?”

“You don’t get it Jongdae, he’s _so hot_.”

Jongdae grabbed onto Baekhyun’s shoulders, shaking the smaller man almost violently. “Get ahold of yourself, man. Get it together.”

“But— I— How is this _possible_?”

“I know what you’re going through, man, you have to believe me, but I’m sorry to break it to you that Chanyeol has always been good looking. You just never realised.”

“What?”

“More importantly, though, do I have to remind you of how much you dislike him?”

“I know,” Baekhyun groaned, planting his cheek against the table, “I _know_ , Jongdae. Why else do you think I’m having this crisis right now?”

“Are you really going to moon over him now? Over a haircut?”

Baekhyun remained silent for a second, “Maybe,” he said, then reflecting on his answer, “possibly.” he confessed.

Jongdae sighed a miserable sigh that came with practice, rolling his eyes at Baekhyun which, honestly, wasn’t being fair to Baekhyun because it’s not like Baekhyun wanted to look up one day and find that the Printer Intern became _hot_. More than seeing his part-time enemy succeed at self-improvement, it was distracting and should be considered a workplace hazard with how the twinkle in his eyes could now be seen as clearly as the photoshopped shine in Dental advertisements. Or how distracting it was when Baekhyun was merely trying to answer nature’s call and walked in the Printer Intern adjusting the little stray strands of hair near his sideburn. When their eyes met in the mirror, Baekhyun groaned inwardly, despite plastering the most polite and warm smile that he could muster at the moment.

Was it a little bit too tight to be warm, though? It was no one’s business but his.

“I see you got a haircut,” Baekhyun said, gesturing to his own head clumsily. The Printer Intern’s eyes widened in surprise before schooling his features into a collected look again.

“I— Yes, I got a haircut,” the man said cautiously, wiping his damp hands on paper towels, “the summer heat was literally getting to my head.”

Baekhyun laughed, or made himself laugh, because that was an attempt at humour, right?

Clearly, it wasn’t the reaction that the Printer Intern wanted. Or it wasn’t the entire reaction that he was expecting, because the Printer Intern’s relaxed slouch of his shoulders turned stiff, and his eyes darted away awkwardly. Just like that, the easy air between them turned stale with an untimely end to an otherwise nice conversation.

The Printer Intern flashed a small smile while he discarded the used paper towel into the bin, turning to leave. It was a split second’s decision for Baekhyun to open his mouth and spit out the words that he had been repeating endlessly in his head for a few days now.

“It looks good, by the way.” Baekhyun called to the Printer Intern’s retreating back. The Printer Intern’s hand stilled on the door handle, turning around just enough to see Baekhyun’s flushed cheeks and panic scribbled across his face.

The Printer Intern gave him a blank look that dissolved into a bright grin that rivaled the sunsets Baekhyun used to see on the rooftop of his apartment complex back in his teenage days. He could feel the blood racing under his skin, the way his heart’s drumming picked up, the little twist in his stomach.

“Thank you,” the Printer Intern replied sincerely as he stepped out of the toilet. The door slammed shut in the way that old, heavy doors do. Baekhyun would have waxed poetry about why people ever thought having heavy toilet doors was a good idea if he wasn’t so caught up in the cadence of the Printer Intern’s voice, the steady footsteps fading away, the dimple at the side of his mouth when the smile enveloped his face. And—

Oh—

Oh, no.

Jongdae was right. Jongdae had been right all along.

  
  


**Byun Baekhyun (3:41PM)**

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

 

**Byun Baekhyun (3:41PM)**

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

 

**Byun Baekhyun (3:42PM)**

NOOoooOOooo000oOO00ooOOOOOOOOooo0O0OOOo

 

**Kim Jongdae (3:42PM)**

fuck you, byun, shut the hell up

 

**Kim Jongdae (3:42PM)**

stop spamming my skype I am RIGHT NEXT TO YOU

 

**Byun Baekhyun (3:42PM)**

SHOW ME SUPPORTTTTTTTT

 

**Byun Baekhyun (3:42PM)**

I AM HAVING A LIFE CRISIS

 

**Kim Jongdae (3:43PM)**

when are you NOT having a life crisis????

 

**Kim Jongdae (3:43PM)**

what happened tho lol

 

**Byun Baekhyun (3:43PM)**

DID YOU KNOW THAT HE HAS THE BEST SMILE EVER???

 

**Byun Baekhyun (3:43PM)**

AND LIKE WHEN HE SMIELS HIS EYES LIGHTS UP LIKE AFWFQFQWS

 

**Byun Baekhyun (3:43PM)**

LIKE A FIREWORK

 

**Byun Baekhyun (3:43PM)**

LIKE IT MAKES MY INSIDES EXPLODE AND M Y FACE UWUWUWUWU

 

**Kim Jongdae (3:43PM)**

what the fuck

 

**Byun Baekhyun (3:44PM)**

AND HE’S LIKE NOT THAT RUDE AFTER ALL??? MAYBE HE DOESN’T HATE ME AFTER ALL???

 

**Byun Baekhyun (3:44PM)**

AND HE EVEN TRIED TO CRACK A JOKE W ME!!!!!

 

**Kim Jongdae (3:44PM)**

wait, who are we talking about?

 

**Byun Baekhyun (3:44PM)**

D:<

 

**Byun Baekhyun (3:44PM)**

D^:<** oops i forgot my nose lol

 

**Byun Baekhyun (3:45PM)**

don’t be rude/stupid jongdae there is only ONE (1) HOT person in the office

 

**Kim Jongdae (3:45PM)**

LOLOLOL

 

**Kim Jongdae (3:46PM)**

LOLOLOLOLOLOLOL

 

**Kim Jongdae (3:46PM)**

LMAOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

 

**Byun Baekhyun (3:46PM)**

fuck you

 

**Kim Jongdae (3:46PM)**

you’re really having a crisis over Chanyeol?? like Park Chanyeol????? I’M DYING

 

**Byun Baekhyun (3:47PM)**

yeah u will be dying AFTER YOU CATCH THESE HANDS

 

**Byun Baekhyun (3:47PM)**

you don’t understand MAN u weren’t THERE

 

**Byun Baekhyun (3:47PM)**

u didn’t see the way he laughed, or SMILED

 

**Byun Baekhyun (3:47PM)**

he’s so CUTE i can’t even asvgxhqtshqs UWUWUWU

 

**Kim Jongdae (3:48PM)**

yeah and I am GLAD that I wasn’t there cos you are a hot mess, bro

 

**Byun Baekhyun (3:48PM)**

i just wanna talk more w him and hear him laugh and smile

 

**Kim Jongdae (3:48PM)**

& for the love of God why do you use ‘you’ and ‘u’ in the same sentence???

 

**Byun Baekhyun (3:49PM)**

he seems like such a nice person

 

**Kim Jongdae (3:49PM)**

omg you got it bad

 

**Kim Jongdae (3:49PM)**

that’s what I’VE BEEN SAYING!!! he’s a nice person!!

 

**Kim Jongdae (3:50PM)**

except you keep denying this and telling me that I’m wrong and WASTING MY TIME

 

**Byun Baekhyun (3:51PM)**

BE NICE TO ME I’M HAVING A CRISIS!!! stop judging my life choices!!!! leave me alone!!!

 

**Byun Baekhyun (3:52PM)**

SHOW ME SUPPORTTTTTTTTTTTT!!!!!

 

“Oh, I’ll show you support all right,” Jongdae grumbled, his glare turning into a shit-eating grin as his clicker hovered over the print button.

“Jongdae,” Baekhyun began, realising what his friend was planning to do and holy shit, “don’t you fucking dare do it.”

Without further warning, Baekhyun launched himself at Jongdae, both men wrestling to get control over the mouse. In their fighting and jerky movements, someone had pressed down on the left click, which coincidentally landed itself on the tiny print icon because Baekhyun’s luck was shit like that.

And as if his luck couldn’t get any shittier, just as the message box saying ‘Haha you’re fucked because we’re printing this shit.’ popped up on the screen, the Printer Intern got out of his chair and headed towards the printer as well. It was very much like watching a disaster unfold in slow motion; you could hear every word being said in the background like your head is underwater, but see everything like an imax movie, yet you couldn’t move fast enough to prevent the impending doom from happening.

Baekhyun and Jongdae watched, with open mouths and wide eyes, as the Printer Intern took his customary place by the printer in front of the window, waiting for the documents to be printed finished. The Printer Intern slid his hands into his pockets as his eyes searched the office once again, before stopping when he found Baekhyun. He flashed Baekhyun a small smile as the printer beeped loudly, signalling the end of the printing, before he turned around and gathered all the documents in his arms and left.

Slowly, Baekhyun and Jongdae got up and walked to the printer like prisoners to the guillotine. Whatever tiny hope Baekhyun had that maybe, just maybe, the Printer Intern didn’t take their printed conversation had disappeared when they found the collection tray empty.

Well, fuck. The Printer Intern was going to read the conversation and make fun of Baekhyun for being such a creep, or worse: he was going to avoid Baekhyun forever.

Actually, the second option didn’t sound too bad to Baekhyun now, seeing as he would prefer to avoid him as well. Possibly forever. But for some reason, his luck can get shittier yet. Baekhyun was beginning to think that there wasn’t a lower bound to how shitty his luck could get when he packed up after work and left the office, stepping into the lift lobby and finding the Printer Intern sitting by the window ledge, using his phone nonchalantly before looking up.

It was strange, to say the least. Baekhyun hadn’t seen him leave the office this time, and he certainly hadn’t been expecting him to be waiting outside here.

“Hey,” the Printer Intern greeted, pocketing his phone and jumping off the ledge in a fluid motion. Baekhyun blinked, clutching onto the straps of his backpack tightly.

“Hey,” he said weakly. Clearing his throat, Baekhyun asked, “What’re you doing here? Don’t think I ever saw you waiting here after work before.”

“Ah, well, about that,” the Printer Intern looked down, worrying his lower lip between his teeth, “I wanted to talk to you, actually.”

Shit.

“Oh, why?” Baekhyun chuckled nervously. Shit, shit, shit. If Baekhyun could just pretend that he didn’t know what he was talking about and then deny everything and maybe skip town and change his name the next day, it would be okay.

The Printer Intern’s lips tugged downwards, huffing under his breath as he produced a few folded pieces of paper. “Well, I wanted to talk to you about this.”

Fuck.

The silence that permeated the air between them hung thick with tension, with Baekhyun not daring to look up from his shoes and the Printer Intern waiting for an explanation expectantly. Eventually, the Printer Intern sighed softly, folding his arms across his chest and making the papers rustle against each other.

“Were you serious?”

“About what?”

“The part where you thought that I hated you.”

Baekhyun looks up immediately, scrunching his nose in confusion, “There were so many parts to that conversation and you chose to focus on _that_?” he asked in disbelief.

The Printer Intern shrugged a shoulder, “Seemed like the best place to start. Besides, you haven’t answered my question.”

“I guess so. Maybe hate is too strong a word to describe it, but you certainly didn’t seem to like me.”

“Because I thought you hated me.”

“What?”

“Well, yeah, you were always glaring at me and ignoring me,” the Printer Intern shrugged again, trying to look casual about it, “I always thought _you_ hated _me_.”

“Why would I hate you?”

“And why would I hate you?” the man asked back.

Baekhyun blinked, opening his mouth and then shutting it, because that had been the problem at the very start, hadn’t it? Baekhyun thought that the Printer Intern hated him for no reason, but who knew it went both ways?

Both men stared at each other until the uncomfortable atmosphere broke into something smaller, something breathable. The man started to chuckle before he broke into a full, hearty laughter. Just like that, all the anxiety washed out of Baekhyun as well. In the dimming light of the sunset in the distance, Baekhyun found that it was the most genuine laughter he has had for weeks.

“Did you mean it, though?” the man asked once the laughter had subsided.

Baekhyun grumbled under his breath, “Well, what do you think?”

“Well, I’m hoping that it’s true, and you meant every word of it, because there’s a guy in my office. He’s a tiny guy that enjoys glaring at me when he thinks I’m looking and staring at me when he thinks that I’m not.” Baekhyun flushed in embarrassment, but the Printer Intern paid no mind, “And over the last few weeks, I’ve taken quite a liking to this enigmatic guy who seems to hate my guts for no reason. But after reading some interesting documents today, I’m not sure if he really hates me after all.”

“You know I don’t, you stupid asshole.” Baekhyun cursed without any heat in his words, punching the Printer Intern’s arm lightly.

“I hope not,” the Printer Intern continued with a patient smile, “because if not I’m going to sound really stupid by asking him if he wants to have lunch with me tomorrow. I don’t know about him, but I’ve been wanting to strike a conversation with him for awhile now, but I just never knew how.”

“You’re a really stupid asshole, you know that?” Baekhyun bit his lip, trying to stop the smile that was threatening to make itself known, “Couldn’t you have said bye to me on your way out or something? Like a normal human being?”

“Couldn’t you have told me how you feel about me, instead of confessing to your friend over the office skype— of all things?”

“Asshole.” Baekhyun was smiling now, unrestrained. Because suddenly, the murky water had been filtered out, because suddenly, the rain had ceased and the clouds had dispersed, and because suddenly, the warmth had been ushered in along with little greens rising from plots of brown, and he could see the beginning of spring, the beginning of something. The best part about uncertainty was that it could go any way, and with an open heart, Baekhyun was willing to try making it something good.

“Shorty,” Chanyeol retorted, sticking his tongue out momentarily. “shall we get going now? I don’t know about you, but I’m not big on staying in the office past working hours.”

“Yeah,” Baekhyun answered, “yeah, let’s go, Chanyeol.”

Yeah, Baekhyun thought to himself, maybe, _possibly_ , it could be the start of something good.

 


End file.
